Housing Group Homeless No More

December 13, 1998|BY DOUG BROWN Staff Writer

BOYNTON BEACH — An organization that builds and renovates houses for low-income people has moved into a new home.

Before moving into a building at the corner of Gateway and Seacrest boulevards late last week, the Boynton Beach Community Development Corporation didn't have a home, said Art Matthews, the organization's president.

Matthews and others sometimes worked out of a day-care center or met in meeting rooms in city-owned buildings.

The new location, he said, will help bring together the city's north side, an area that suffers from poverty.

"Everybody will know where we are," he said. "We're on a high-profile corner."

Since the corporation started in 1992, Matthews said they have either built or renovated about 45 houses in Boynton Beach.

He would like to branch out into affordable rentals.

"There's a tremendous need for that," he said.

City leaders said they plan to continue working closely with the organization as it grows.

"We're looking forward to them becoming more involved with other aspects of revitalization," said Octavia Sherrod, community development coordinator for Boynton Beach. "We have enjoyed a very good relationship with them over the years, in delivering affordable housing to low-income people."

The city, she said, is in a "partnership" with the organization, in trying to bring affordable housing to the city.

Annetta Jenkins, program director for the West Palm Beach-based Local Initiatives Support Corporation, said her organization has also worked closely with the Boynton Beach corporation.

Jenkins' organization, a national nonprofit, seeks money from private sources, such as corporations. They then turn that money into grants for local grass-roots organizations, such as the Boynton Beach development corporation. The Boynton Beach corporation is one of 18 in the county, she said.